Attachment for bathing infants



March 13, 1934. WELLS 1,950,709

ATTACHMENT FOR BATHING- INFANTS Filed May 11, 1952 I NVENTUH Pal/Z 114M426. Y M 5M1? AI TUR NEY'.

Patented Mar. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES PATET OFFICE 5 Claims.

This invention relates to an attachment for a washstand and more particularly to a device which provides convenient means for bathing and dressing an infant.

At the present time the ordinary bathroom is not equipped with proper means for bathing an infant. If the ordinary bath tub is employed for this purpose the nurse or mother must take an awkward and uncomfortable position, usually kneeling on the floor and holding the child with one hand. Under these circumstances the task is rather difiicult and irksome. On the other hand, if the infant is bathed or sponged on a dressing table, the table takes up considerable room, is not conveniently located with respect to the water supply and the water usually runs off of the infant onto the table or floor.

It is an object of the present invention to remedy these and other difiiculties by providing an attachment for any ordinary wash bowl which will comfortably support the child at a suitable height, so that one bathing it need not stoop; which will be convenient to the water supply and which will drain into the wash bowl.

Another object is to provide a simple and sanitary structure which may readily be attached to or removed from a wash bowl, so that it takes up but little room when in use and may be stored in a small space when not in use.

Other objects and advantages reside in certain novel features of the arrangement and construction of the parts as will be apparent from a consideration of the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a plan view of an attachment for a wash bowl constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention and illustrating one embodiment thereof, the wash bowl being indicated in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the frame of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side view of the frame employed in the device of Figure 1 and illustrating how the same is supported on the wash bowl.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a modified form of attachment, portions of which are cut away to better show the construction.

Figure 5 is a side View of a clamping device which may be used in connection with the attachment of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a side View of a modified form of clamping device suitable for use with the device of Figure 4; and

Figure 7 is a plan View of the frame of another modification of the invention, a wash bowl being also shown in dotted lines in this figure.

Referring to the drawings in detail, attachments for a wash bowl are shown as comprising, essentially, a flat platform constructed of frame members and a covering of canvas cloth or other flexible material. The frames are preferably made of steel tubing although it is within thepurview of the invention to make them of wood, brass or any other suitable material. Stainless steel may be employed or the tubing may be nickel or chromium plated in accordance with well known practices.

In Figures 1 to 4 the frame structure includes a main body 10 of a rectangular shape having a supporting bar 11 welded or otherwise secured thereto near one side and. depending therefrom as shown in Fig. 3, together with an inwardly and slightly downwardly projecting rectangularshaped, auxiliary member 12 welded or otherwise secured to the opposite side. The corners on the side of this frame member which supports the member 12, that is, the upper side as viewed in Figure 1 are not rounded as are those on the lower side, but the bars making up the member 10 are so joined at these points as to form sockets 13 (see Fig. 2) adapted to receive and telescope over the ends 14 of a clamping bar 15. The clamping bar 15, which is merely a U-shaped section of tubing of a slightly smaller diameter than that employed in making the frame 10, provides means for securing the frame to a faucet or faucets 24 (shown in dotted lines) of a wash bowl. To this end the bar 15 is slidable in the sockets 13, and set screws 16 or the like are provided to secure the bar 15 in place.

The covering referred to above is secured to the main body 10 of the frame of Fig. 1, some of the strips 19 extending from end to end thereof and others from side to side as indicated at 20, the two sets being preferably interwoven as shown. Certain of these strips 19 and 20 extend from the end or side of the frame only to the element 12. Thus, an opening in the webbing is provided so that one bathing an infant placed on the webbing may reach below the attachment and take up water in a sponge or the like from the wash bowl below.

The webbing material may be secured to the frame by snap fasteners 21, by sewn loops or by any other known suitable means. The bar 15 may also be provided with a number of snap fasteners, as shown at 22 of Figure 1, in addition to those employed to secure the webbing to the main frame member and certain of the transversely extending strips 20 may have extensions 23 sewn thereto, these extensions also having fasteners 22 thereon to cooperate with those on the bar 15. When the extensions 23 are secured to the bar 13 they may serve a double purpose by providing means to conveniently support soap or the like and by cooperating with the frame members to hold the device in position on the wash bowl as will be described presently.

A bag 25 may also be secured to the webbing to hold soap, toilet articles or the like.

To use the device of Figures 1 to 4, the bar 13 'is moved to the dotted line position of Figure 1,

the main frame member 10 placed upon the wash bowl, the inner portion of the frame resting upon the horizontal portion of the faucets 24 and the outer portion upon the bowl by means of the depending bar 11. The bar 15 is then moved into the sockets 13 of member 10 and secured thereto, as described above, or by the snap fasteners 22, which, if of the proper length, will make other securing means unnecessary. As the bar 15 is moved to this position it snugly engages the vertical portions of the faucets 24 of the wash bowl. If the extension strips 23 are in use, movement longitudinally of the frame will be limited to a certain extent because of the closeness of these strips to the faucets, but if they are not in use the movement of the device in this direction is limited only by the shape of the frame. They may, of course, be used or not, depending upon the requirements of the user or the shape of the particular wash bowl with which the device is used.

In either case it will be apparent that a comfortable and practical device has been provided for supporting an infant at a place where it can be conveniently bathed and dressed.

A different form of the invention and perhaps one to be preferred because of its simplicity, is shown in Figure 4. In this construction, the framework consists of a single rectangular shaped piece of metal tubing 30 having its ends joined to make it continuous and provided with a depending supporting bar 31 similar to the bar 11 of Figures 1 and 3.

This frame may be secured to a wash bowl by means of suitable clamping devices as, for example, rings 32 (shown in detail in Figure 5) provided with set screws 33 to hold them in place, and having depending resilient fingers 34 adapted to receive and grasp the nozzle portion of a faucet as shown in Figure 7. To permit adjustment, the fingers 34 may be pivotally mounted on the ring 32 by the pin 35.

As an alternative securing means, the device of Figure 6 may be employed, this clamp comprising a segment 36 of a sleeve of resilient material, which may be sprung on or off of the frame 30, and which carries pivotally mounted grasping fingers 34 like those described above.

The sleeve 36 may be placed directly upon the frame 30 as shown, or, if desired, loops of adring of metal, of which certain loops of the strips 19 and 20 are secured. With this construction the infant may be comfortably supported, even though the webbing has stretched or lost its shape.

The modification of Figure 7 has incorporated therein certain features taken from Figures 1 and 4, only the bare frame of the attachment being shown. All of the metal parts of this form of the invention are assembled into one unit so that none can be easily disassembled or lost. The main one frame member 40 is similar in size, shape and construction to the member 30 of Figure 4 and like it has clamping devices 32 adjustably mounted along one side thereof. It is further provided with a supporting bar 11 and an integral auxiliary member 12 to provide a hand opening, like the correspondingly indicated elements of Figure 1.

With all of the above constructions, the attachment is not limited to use with wash bowls having two faucets, but may be usefully employed with various known constructions.

While only a few embodiments of the invention have been shown on the drawing and described above, it is obvious that many changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus the bar 15 of the arrangement of Figure 1 may have one end pivotally secured to the main frame 10 and the other end clasped thereto. Also this bar may be bent or otherwise deformed to adapt it to wash-bowls having a handle for the drain located slightly behind the faucets. In addition, the supporting bar 11 may be adjustably secured to the member 10 (by means like that shown for securing the bar 15 thereto, for example) so that the attachment may be made level on variously constructed wash bowls. Thus it is to be understood that the invention is to be limited only by the following claims.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a wash-bowl, for use in bathing an infant, comprising a substantially rectangular frame having depending means on one side thereof for supporting the same on the outer edge of the wash-bowl and means on the other side thereof arranged to rest upon and be detachably secured to a faucet of the wash-bowl and a covering of fabric stretched across said frame to form a nearly flat support for the infant.

2. An attachment for a wash-bowl, for use in bathing an infant, comprising a substantially rectangular frame having depending means on one side thereof for supporting the same on the outer edge of the wash-bowl and means on the other side thereof arranged to rest upon and be detachably secured to a faucet of the wash-bowl and a covering of fabric stretched across said frame to form a nearly flat support for the infant said covering having an opening therein to permit access to be gained to water in the wash-bowl.

3. An attachment for a wash-bowl having a faucet thereon, for use in bathing an infant, comprising a main frame member designed to rest upon the wash-bowl, a covering of flexible material secured to said frame member for supporting an infant thereon and means for detachably securing said frame member to the wash-bowl, said frame member having sockets along the ends thereof and said securing means including a U- shaped rod the ends of which extend through said sockets whereby the upper portion of the faucet of the wash-bowl may be clamped between said U-shaped rod and the adjacent portion of said frame.

4. An attachment for a Wash-bowl, for use in bathing an infant, comprising a main frame member designed to rest upon the wash-bowl, a covering of flexible material secured to said frame member for supporting an infant thereon and means for detachably securing said frame member to the Wash-bowl, said main frame member having a cylindrical portion designed to be placed near the faucets of the wash-bowl, and said securing means including a ring mounted on said cylindrical portion and having gripping fingers secured thereto for engaging a part of a faucet.

5. An attachment for a wash-bowl, for use in bathing an infant, comprising a main frame member designed to rest upon the Wash-bowl, a covering of flexible material secured to said frame member for supporting an infant thereon and means for detachably securing said frame member to the wash-bowl, said main frame member having a cylindrical portion designed to be placed near the faucets of the wash-bowl and said securing means including a segment of a sleeve mounted on said cylindrical portion and having gripping fingers secured thereto for engaging a part of a faucet.

PAUL I-L WELLS. 

